Barcelona vs. Atletico Madrid: Team News, Preview, Live Stream and TV Info
The heavyweight clash of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals undoubtedly takes place in Spain across two legs, with holders Barcelona and domestic rivals Atletico Madrid locking horns, firstly in Catalunya on Tuesday night.
There was plenty of quick discussion to be had over whether Barcelona suffered an irrelevant, yet inevitable at some stage, defeat in El Clasico, or whether it is an indication of a malaise brought on as a result of a long season.
It's not just the defeat itself that has spawned talk of a downturn, but also the manner of the performance overall, and the fact they lost late on, at home, to 10 men and against their biggest rivals.
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Add in the international break and the travel involved for their South American stars, and the fact that Barca have competed in six competitions in total this season, and the risk is certainly there that this is more than a bad result.
It could be fatigue setting in, the cycle of football resetting itself and, just possibly, the ongoing record of no team retaining the Champions League affecting the team's mindset.
Or, they could bounce back to form a few days later and give Atletico another defeat.
Boss Luis Enrique thinks his side won't be overly affected, according to BBC Sport:
"We had almost forgotten what losing was. Our team has more than enough to keep being the same it has been. I have blind faith in my players and blind faith in the way Barca have been playing in order to win titles the last few years. That is the way we have to keep playing."
Nobody doubts that Barcelona will carry on the same way as they have been, but the question will be over whether the loss to Real Madrid has planted the seed of doubt in players' minds, as former forward Thierry Henry believes, per Sky Sports (h/t MailOnline).
"Knowing Barcelona and the Catalans there will be a little doubt. Just one loss can create doubts, we will see in the coming week. I still think the league is done, but I want to see the impact in the coming games."
In reaching the last eight of the Champions League, Barcelona cruised their group stage and then saw off Arsenal 5-1 on aggregate last time out, with each of Neymar, Messi and Suarez finding the back of the net in the second leg.
After the desperately quiet performance in El Clasico from all three, Barcelona fans and management alike will be hoping that their slump was just for that one-off 90 minutes, and that they'll now hit back to terrorise arguably the best defence in world football.
Date: Tuesday, April 5
Time: 7:45 p.m. BST/2:45 p.m. ET
Venue: Camp Nou, Barcelona
TV Info: BT Sport Europe (UK), Fox Sports 1, Fox Deportes (USA)
Live Stream: BT Sport Live Streaming (UK), Fox Soccer 2GO (USA)
The Teams
Barcelona's long unbeaten run, stretching back to early October, was brought to an end at the weekend by arch-rivals Real Madrid, with El Clasico finishing in a come-from-behind victory for the capital city side. As a one-off, and in the context of the current Liga table, it's not the end of the world for Barcelona—but it did mark a second successive league match without a win.
They also drew with Villarreal in the previous match, and they have two (historically) difficult games yet ahead of them in this run, against Real Sociedad and Valencia.
Europe has been a different matter, though, and Barcelona have reached the quarters with minimal effort involved, seeing off Arsenal with ease over the two legs in the round of 16.
Atletico were in the title hunt for a long while, but defeat to Sporting Gijon just before the recent international break looked to have ended their hopes. That was, at least, until this past weekend, where results have once again given Los Rojiblancos a glimmer of hope.
Their biggest league win of the season came at the Vicente Calderon on Saturday, 5-1 over Real Betis, closing the gap to just six points. That remained the case after El Clasico, but there's still a lot of work ahead to catch Barcelona, with just seven games remaining.
In Europe, Atleti have had a much tougher time of things; they topped their group but lost to Benfica and drew with Astana along the way, before failing to score in 210 minutes against PSV; after two 0-0 draws, it took a penalty shootout to send Atleti through and the Dutch side out.
Team News
Barcelona will rotate their goalkeeper once more, with Marc-Andre ter Stegen the regular No. 1 in European competition.
Elsewhere they're likely to go with an unchanged side from the weekend—although boss Luis Enrique will likely rethink his tactical switch from the weekend and revert to a 4-3-3. Jeremy Mathieu was injured on international duty, while full-backs Adriano and Aleix Vidal remain sidelined. Forward Sandro Ramirez is also out.
As for Atletico Madrid, their defence has been beset by injuries over the last few games, but huge news has come through that Diego Godin and Stefan Savic are expected to be fit, per Reuters (h/t the Guardian). The same cannot be said for Josema Gimenez, who injured a hamstring against Sporting two weeks ago.
Oliver Torres is likely to miss the game, but Yannick Carrasco was close to a return at the weekend so could make it back in time to be involved. If he's fit, Diego Simeone will have a decision to make in attack: Fernando Torres started and scored at the weekend, while Angel Correa shone off the bench, but it was Carrasco and Antoine Griezmann who starred together briefly as a pairing against Barcelona last time in La Liga.
Unfortunately for Los Colchoneros it didn't last long as red cards forced a rethink, with Atleti ending with nine men.
Possible Lineups
FCB (4-3-3): Marc-Andre ter Stegen; Dani Alves, Gerard Pique, Javier Mascherano, Jordi Alba; Sergio Busquets, Ivan Rakitic, Andres Iniesta; Leo Messi, Luis Suarez, Neymar.
ATM (4-4-2): Jan Oblak; Juanfran, Lucas Hernandez, Diego Godin, Filipe Luis; Koke, Gabi, Augusto, Saul; Fernando Torres, Antoine Griezmann.
Player to Watch: Diego Godin (ATM)
With all the attacking talent on show, it's easy to forget that these two sides have the two best defences in La Liga, too.
Atleti have only conceded 15 in 31 matches in league play, and three in eight in Europe. The team defend as a unit without the ball and work tremendously hard in midfield to keep shape and apply pressure outside their own penalty box, but behind them is a man imperious, determined and committed to the cause: Diego Godin.
The Uruguayan is sure to be a little removed from full fitness, if only in a match-sharpness sense, yet he will have to raise his game higher than ever before to keep out a deadly attack that will likely be irked at receiving criticism after the weekend defeat to Real Madrid.
A combative Pepe and a sent-off Sergio Ramos managed to keep the MSN attack at bay at Camp Nou at the weekend; can a half-fit Diego Godin do likewise on Tuesday evening?
Prediction: Barcelona 1-0 Atletico Madrid
